Peer Power Blog

We are just about a month from the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference, and I thought it would be a good time to remind you why events like this are so important to us as partners. I wrote an original post on this topic in 2009, and have updated my thinking here based on my focused role as CEO now. There are only a few events on my “cannot miss” list any more:1. Quarterly HTG meetings2. ConnectWise Partner Summit3. Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference4. CompTIA BreakawayCertainly there are a number of other quality events that occur in the channel each year, but to be honest, if I don’t pick and choose I will be attending an event or two every week. And as my role has matured, it has be... Continue reading

I was blessed to spend a couple days this week with the HTG team and advisory council in a strategic planning session in Phoenix. Our mission was to step back and take another look at our course and make sure we were on track. It was a great exercise as we turned over every aspect of the HTG program and took a look at where we were, and more importantly, where we were going to be in 3 years. After all, we continually press our members to do strategic planning. That has to drive every part of our businesses. It comes down to answering the "why" question. Why do we do what we do? What is the driving force - the end game - the desired outcome? Far too many businesses and organizations go throug... Continue reading

Today we held our 5th annual HTS planning meeting. We huddled in the KC Microsoft office with our field reps from Microsoft, SonicWALL, Ingram Micro, HP and Altigen. The goal was to review our performance from 2009, evaluate what we could have done better, and then create a joint plan across all our vendor partners for 2010. When we started doing this 5 years ago, there was a lot of question and concern. "You really expect us to sit in a room with competitive vendors and share our thinking and plans for next year?". I have always had a simple answer. "It is up to you. You only have to participate if you want to do business with us next year." This is not an optional activity. It is ... Continue reading

This is the third blog post based on the keynote I delivered at the SMB Alliance event hosted by Ingram the end of August in Charlotte. The topic of this post is focused around the importance of distribution in the success of a VAR in the IT channel. This is based on our experiences in growing HTS and watching other successful VARs build their companies.Distribution Was a Key FactorAt SCCI, my original company and parent organization today, we made a strategic decision to go deep with Ingram. Our purchasing is almost all done through this relationship, and our participation is primarily with their programs and resources. This decision was not about price. While their prices are competitive w... Continue reading

Next week three of our HTG groups - 6 - 18 - 19 - will be holding their Q3 meetings in Charlotte ahead of the Ingram Micro SMB Alliance event. HTG has had a strategic alliance with Ingram now for over a year, and our participation in this event is an exciting part of that continuing to grow to fruition. We will have 50 or so HTG green shirts in attendance at the event on Thursday and Friday and will experience a great agenda filled with content.Over 200 partners from Ingram's SMBA channel will be on hand to share and learn together. We will hear from key industry leaders like John Fago and Ryan Grant from Ingram Micro, Mike Parrotino from HP, Justin Crotty from Ingram Seismic, Paul Dippel... Continue reading